Yarn feeding means for circular knitting machines



April 23, 1957 E. v. MILLS 2,739,422

YARN FEEDING MEANS FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 16, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Etgene l I [fills mwm ATTORNEYS YARN FEEDING MEANS FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 16, 1955 April 23, 1957 E. v. MILLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS United States Patent YARN FEEDING MEANS FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Eugene V. Mills, Princeton, Wis., assignor to Handcraft Company, Inc., Green Lake, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application September 16, 1955, Serial No. 534,772

7 Claims. (Cl. 66136) This invention relates to knitting machines, and more particularly, to improvements in yarn feeding means for circular knitting machines, whereby such machines may be utilized to knit rib plated, tubular fabrics from bulky,

stretchable yarns incapable of being properly plate' knitted on machines provided with conventional yarn feeding means. The invention further relates to a method of knitting plated fabric.

The improved method and yarn feeding means of the present invention may be utilized, in general, upon any of the conventional circular knitting machines upon which yarn plating operations may be performed. One such circular knitting machine and its mode of operation is described in U. S. Patent No. 1,641,101 to which reference may be made for a more specific disclosure of one environment in which the present invention may be used.

The production of rib plated tubular goods, such as socks, stockings, etc., from wool or cotton yarns is well known in the art and, in general, the knitting of such yarns has presented no difiiculties. It has now become desirable to produce socks, and the like, from synthetic stretchable yarns, made of nylon, Orlon, Dacron, etc. Thus, by utilizing a proper combination of these yarns, a soft, bulky, stretchy sock can be produced, which may be made in one size to fit a range of foot sizes. These socks have a wool feel although made of synthetic yarns.

Conventional yarns heretofore employed on conventional knitting machines are knitted while under tension and hence there is no difficulty in performing the plating operation; but in utilizing the new types of synthetic yarns such as stretchable nylon or high-bulk Orlon, which must be loosely knitted and without substantial tension, the raising of the cylinder of the knitting machine to the extent necessary to provide a loose stitch, coupled with negligible tension, causes difiiculty in the proper entry of the yarn at the V or point of meeting of the yarns in advance of the stitch draw point of the needles, with the result that there is a tendency for the yarns to twist during feeding so that the yarn which normally should be disposed on the inside of the fabric goes to the outside and vice versa.

It is practically impossible to detect such misplating since it is not visible in the loosely knitted yarns even after the finished article has been removed from the machine. Hence, the misplating does not become visible until after completion of the scouring, dyeing and other conventional finishing operations which shrink the yarn and reveal the knitting defects. This results in a great deal of waste. Furthermore, rib plating of synthetic yarns of the type mentioned, using conventional yarn feed fingers and controls, results in a rough-appearing product, rather than in a smooth, uniform job, even when the yarns are knitted in proper relation.

A primary object of the invention is to provide an "improved yarn feeding means for circular knitting machines by means of which the plating yarn can be positively controlled to knit in its intended relation.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved yarn feeding means for circular knitting machines of the type described, whereby synthetic yarn or a combination of synthetic yarns may be employed in a plating operation to provide a smooth, neat-appearing, uniform product with substantially no waste because of misplating.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved yarn feeding means whereby synthetic yarns or combinations thereof, which must be loosely knit, may be fed to the knitting machines with accurate control, and without substantial tension.

A still further object of invention is to provide an improved yarn feeding means for a circular knitting machine which will effect close and accurate control when in an operative position and which is capable of being raised when necessary to be rendered inactive without danger of damaging the needles.

A still further object is to provide yarn feeding means including an adjustable member adapting the same for use with various types of conventional machines.

These and other objects of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary, plan view of a portion of a conventional circular knitting machine including a latch ring and a yarn feeding finger mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, top plan view of a circular knitting machine of the type shown in Fig. 1, but wherein the improved yarn feeding means of the present invention and manner of mounting such means with respect to the latch ring are shown;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the novel, adjustable, yarn feeding finger of the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view through a onepiece yarn feeding finger.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown a latch guard ring 10 of a conventional circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder 11 provided with a plurality of needles N. Latch guard ring 10 has an outwardly extending integral bracket 12 providing a pair of lugs 14 and 16, carrying a pin or shaft 18 pivotally mounting said ring 10 within mounting ears 20 on the frame of the knitting machine. A set screw 22 prevents longitudinal movement and rotation of the shaft 18 with respect to lugs 14 and 16. The bracket 12 is also provided with an upstanding, inverted, U-shaped member 24, carrying a pin or shaft 26 between the legs thereof for pivotally mounting a conventional yarn guide finger 28. A set screw 30 secures the shaft 26 against rotation and longitudinal movement within the member 24. The conventional yarn guide finger 28 pivots about the fixed shaft 26 to permit it to be raised from operative position as shown in solid lines to inoperative position as shown by the dot-dash lines in the manner well understood in the art. A secondary yarn guiding and tensioning means 32 of conventional design is mounted upon the top of the U-shaped member 24, and is affixed thereto by means of a screw 34.

The conventional yarn guide finger 28 has a downwardly extendingshank portion 36- terminating in a heel 38 which may rest upon throat plate 40 of the latch guard ring 10 at the bottom of the throat opening 42 formed in this ring and through which throat the yarn is deelivered to'the needles N. A lateral extension 44 having a plurality of vertical openings 46 and 48, through which yarns 50 and 52 are guided, projects from the shank por-:

tion 36 in a horizontal plane above the heel portion 38 Patented Apr. 23, 1957 and is spaced above throat plate 40 to permit yarns 50 and 52' to pass thereunder and to the cylinder needles N. Conventional dial members 56 (Fig. 2) mounted in a ring 58 co-operate with the cylinder needles N to for'rnstitches in a. manner well known to the art. It will be noted that in the conventional structure shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the'two yarns 50 and 52 substantially meet in a V or acute angle at a point 60 whereinthey'are engaged by the. cylinder needles N.

As shown in Fig. 2, the tip 62 of the lateral extension 44 of the yarn feeding finger 28 swings outwardly to form an are designated by the dot-dash lines 64 when the .finger 28 is pivoted. to active position around its shaft 26. A spring. 66, attached at one end to a nib 68 on finger 28 and at its other. end to any suitable means (not shown) normally. holds the finger 28 in the downward yarn feeding position with the heel 38 resting on the throat plate 40.

When bulky, or stretchable, synthetic yarns such as nylon, Orlon, Dacron," and the like are utilized with a yarn feeding means such as the conventional finger 28 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, there is a tendency for these yarns to roll or twist at the point 60 prior to being engaged, or while being engaged, by the needles N so that the yarn, which normally should be on the inside to form a proper plating operation, goes to the outside, thereby causing. misplating, of the goods as described above. All efforts to provide closer control of the yarn feeding by use of various tensioning devices, etc. with the conventional fingers have failed, since the tension required is too great for therequired loose knitting and, moreover, it is impossible to move the finger 28 much closer to the needles N without danger of fouling the needles when the finger is swung out of operative position. Even if such finger could be moved closer to the needles the two yarns would still be fed to the needles at closely adjacent points and thus not overcome the problem of the yarns shifting position and misplating.

In accordance with the present invention, there is providedan improved yarn guide finger, generally indicated at 69, Figs. 3-5, which not only provides closer control.

of yarn delivery with all types of yarns, but is particularly useful in guiding bulky, stretchable, synthetic yarns and controlling the same to produce satisfactory plating, particularly in the knitting of stretchable hose. The finger 69 comprises a rigid, elongated body portion 70 of the slightly reverse-curving configuration shown, which is welded or otherwise secured to a cylindrical bearing member 72 adapted to be pivotally mounted upon the shaft 18 intermediate the lugs 14 and 16 of the particular circular knitting machine illustrated. It will be understood that in this machine the shaft 18 forms a desirable and convenient means for pivotally mounting the novel finger 69. about a relatively low pivotal axis, but that in other types of machines a separate mounting means.

could be provided for pivotally mounting the finger about the same general low pivotal axis. At the inner end of the member 70 of the finger 69, a yarn guide element is provided including a nose portion 74 having alongitudinal bore 76 and a shank portion 78 having a slot 80. The slot 80 performs the dual function of ac-- commodating a screw 82, which secures the shank portion 78 in adjustable overlapping relationship to the inner end of the member 70 and inalso providing an aperture forward of the screw 82 through which one of the yarns may be fed. The bore 76 through the nose portion 74 is substantially perpendicular to the aperture formed by slot 80, and extends in the'same general direction as the body portion 70 of the finger 69, said bore terminating flush with the inner end of the nose portion 74 and beingzdisclosed closely adjacent the needles N. When the finger '69. is mounted in the knitting machine, the forward oriti'p 83. of noseportion 74 is substantially at the inner periphery of the latch guard ring liner a and is positinned-to deliver yarn at approximately the center of the throat opening 42. A slight adjustment of the forward position of'the nose portion 74 is permitted by the slot 88 and screw 82, but sufiicient clearance should be allowed between the forward portion of the slot and the screw head to form an aperture for yarn delivery. Thus, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, one yarn 34 is fed through the bore 76 of the nose portion 74 substantially radially and in close proximity to the needles N. The other yarn 86 is fed through the forward portion of the slot 80 and off at an angleto one side and past the edge of the. throat opening 42 in the latch guard ring 10; It will be noted, therefore, particularly from Fig. 3, that the points at which the two yarns engage the needles N are widely separated,.-in distinction to the close or simultaneous V approach provided by the conventional yarn guiding means illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The feeding of the yarn 34 to the needles N in advance of the yarn 86 assures proper reception of said yarns by the needles and avoids twisting from the outside to the inside of the knitted fabric, thus eliminating the cause of improper plating. This has been found to provide a very-smooth and uniform plating operation, since there is no possibility of the yarns becoming twisted prior to their engagement by the needles which might result in the face yarn being disposed on the wrong side of the fabric. The overlapping relationship of the shank portion 78 with respect to the body member 70 provides a space 79 (Fig. 4) between the-bottom of the shank portion 78 and the throat plate 45 whereby the yarn 86 may be fed through aperture dfi'and off to one side to the needles without hindrance or application of tension at this point.

By mounting the yarn guide finger 69 for pivotal motion around the shaft 18 providing a low pivotal axis, rather than around the raised shaft 26 as with the conventional finger; the finger 69 may be lifted or pivoted when necessary to render it inoperative so that the tip 83 or the nose portion 74 describes an arc-shown by the dot-dash line-9t), which does not at any point approach the path of the needles N substantially more closely than does the tip 83 in its normal yarn feeding position. Accordingly, there is no danger with this yarn guiding means of fouling the needles N even though the feed point is positioned in close proximity thereto.

The finger 69, as with the conventional finger 28, is provided with means for normally urging it into yarn feeding or operative position, which, in the embodiment shown, comprises a set screw92 to which one end of a spring 94' is attached. The other end of the, spring is attached to a convenient point (not shown) on the machine. A tail portion 96, extending rearwardly of the mounting; provides a convenient means to be actuated for tipping or pivoting the finger 69 into inoperative position, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

A one-piece-yarn feeding finger 69a is illustrated in Fig. 6. Such finger may be specially designed for use in'a given. machine, and used in lieu of the adjustable finger shown in Fig. 5 and accomplishes the same results. As is illustrated, the yarn feeding finger 69a comprises a nose 74a having a longitudinal bore 83a for a yarn 84a, and a vertical aperture 8% for a yarn 36a. A bearing 72a is formed on the upper side of the finger 69a formounting the same on the shaft 18. A tailportion 96a is formed at one extremity of the finger 69a for use in manipulating said finger to control the yarn feed. A recess 79a below the aperture Stla provides space for unhindered movement of the yarn 86a when the finger 69a is in use.

Ina typical knitting operation, the device of the invention.may be utilized to knit a stretchy, loose-knit sock wherein the-yarn 84' fed throughbore 76 of the nose portion 74 is a liigh-bulk 0rlon, and the yarn 86' fed through slot 81} is a two-ply 100 denier stretchy nylon, These yarns must be knitted with a minimum of tension in order to obtain the extreme looseness required in knitting this type of sock. The nylon" yarn 86 is knitted substantially without tension, except when knitting the heel and toe, at which time a slight tension is applied. The Orlon yarn 84 may be knitted with a very light, uniform tension at all times, and the tension is slightly greater than that applied to the nylon during the toe and heel knitting. The Orlon yarn 84 constitutes the outside or plating yarn in the finished product, and must lead the way into the needles. As the stitch is drawn the Orlon yarn 84 rolls to the opposite side and becomes the outside yarn. For this reason it is first introduced into the needles N through the nose portion 74 of the novel guide finger 69. The extremely low tension required in this type of knitting operation makes it substantially impossible to knit a smoothappearing, rib plating, article in the conventional machine; whereas, with the improved yarn guide finger described herein a smooth, plated, uniform article is consistently obtained. The needle cylinder must be adjusted to a maximum height feasible for all operations to provide a Wholely loosely knit article, without danger of jamming the yarn guide finger 69 at any position.

While the operation has been described particularly with a combination of nylon and Orlon, it will be understood that two yarns of the same type or of different types either of synthetic material or any other material may be utilized.

Technical identification of the synthetic yarns mentioned herein are as follows:

Nylon--A group of thermoplastic linear longchain superpolyamides.

Dacron-A condensation polymer of terphthalic acid and ethylene glycol.

Orln-Acry1onitrile polymer, usually combined with other substances.

It will be understood that various modifications and rearrangements of the structure described herein may be made by those skilled in the art, and that the principles of the invention may be adapted to many different types of knitting machines for performing varied types of Work. Hence, the scope of the invention is limited onl by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A yarn feeding device adapted to be mounted on a circular knitting machine for controlling the delivery of yarn to the knitting needles, comprising: an elongated finger; yarn guiding means at one end of said finger having a longitudinally extending aperture terminating substantially fiush with said one end of said finger for feeding a first yarn, said finger having a second aperture spaced to the rear of said first-mentioned aperture, whereby a second yarn may be fed simultaneously from said finger to the knitting needles at a point spaced from the point of delivery of said first yarn; and means pivotally mounting said finger for arcuate movement of said one end about an axis located in approximately the plane of the upper end of said needles, whereby yarn may be delivered directly from said one end of said finger in close proximity to said knitting needles.

2. A yarn feeding device as defined in claim 1, in which said second aperture extends through said yarn feeding finger in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of said first aperture.

3. A yarn feeding device adapted to be mounted upon a knitting machine for controlling the delivery of yarn to the knitting needles, comprising: an elongated finger; yarn guiding means at one end of said finger including a nose portion having a bore therein extending in the general direction of said finger and terminating at the forward extremity of said finger; means pivotally mounting said finger for arcuate movement of said one end of said finger, said yarn guiding means having an aperture spaced from said nose portion, whereby a first yarn may be fed through the bore of said nose portion in close proximity to the knitting needles and a second yarn may be simultaneously fed through said aperture to said knitting needles at a point spaced from the point of delivery of said first yarn.

4. A yarn feeding finger adapted to be mounted upon a knitting machine for controlling the delivery of yarn to the knitting needles, comprising: an elongated body portion; means intermediate the ends of said body portion for pivotally mounting said finger in a vertical plane; yarn guiding means at one end of said body portion including a shank portion and a forwardly extending nose portion, said nose portion having a bore terminating at the forward extremity thereof; and means adjustably mounting said yarn guiding means on said one end of said body portion including an elongated slot in said shank portion, the forward portion of said slot being disposed in non-overlapping relation to said body portion and adapted to serve as a yarn feeding aperture, whereby a first yarn may be fed through said bore in close proximity to said knitting needles, and a second yarn may be fed through said slot to said knitting needles at a point spaced from said first yarn.

5. In combination with a circular knitting machine having a latch guard ring provided with a throat for delivery of yarn to the knitting needles; a radially disposed yarn feeding finger having a longitudinal bore therein terminating at the inner extremity of said finger and being provided with an aperture spaced from said bore; and means mounting said finger for operation in said throat so that in normal yarn guiding position said inner extremity of said finger is substantially flush with the inner periphery of said latch guard ring, whereby a yarn may be fed through said bore in close proximity to said knitting needles and whereby a second yarn may be simultaneously fed to said knitting needles at a point in said throat spaced circumferentially from the point of delivery of said first-mentioned yarn.

6. The combination of claim 5, in which said aperture extends through said yarn feeding finger in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of said bore.

7. In a circular knitting machine having a latch guard I ring provided with a throat for the delivery of yarn to the knitting needles, a bracket having legs extending therefrom on each side of said throat, and provided with a shaft extending therethrough for pivotally mounting said latch guard ring, the combination therewith of a yarn feeding finger pivotally mounted on said shaft between said legs and having an inner end portion extending into said throat and terminating substantially flush with the inner periphery of said latch guard ring, said inner end portion having yarn feeding means for feeding a yarn in close proximity to said knitting needles, said yarn feeding means including a first bore extending in the general direction of said finger and terminating at the inner extremity of said finger, said finger having a second bore spaced outwardly of said first bore and extending through said finger in a direction substantially perpendicular to said first bore.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,123,937 Scott Ian. 5, 1915 1,584,099 Kane May 11, 1926 1,641,101 Scott Aug. 30, 1927 1,838,651 Bentley et al Dec. 29, 1931 2,143,630 Nebel Jan. 10, 1939 2,406,775 Killian Sept. 3, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 542,526 Great Britain Ian. 14, 1942 

